The health benefits of apples are significant and who doesn’t love the taste of a freshly picked apple, or a warm apple pie in the fall? We all remember the saying “An apple a day keeps the doctor away!”. Aside from being a memorable childhood rhyme, it is based on the fact that apples have great health benefits and an interesting history to go with it.
A Short History of Apples
In the springtime, apple trees are filled with blossoming flowers. In the autumn, the flowers begin to fall off and the fruit begins to grow. Orchard owners can look forward to each year’s crop being more plentiful than the last with the proper pollination and fertilization.
Despite their affiliation with symbolizing America, the apple actually originated in Asia. It’s believed that apples predate other types of fruit tress that were being grown and harvested to provide food. The Romans were the first to take the earliest version of apples, which were small and didn’t taste very good, and turned them into something similar to what we eat today with cross pollination. Roman and American botanists both worked to create several new varieties, and today there are over 7,500 varieties of the tasty fall fruit across the world.
Apples were brought to America by colonists. Bringing trees on a long voyage across the sea from England was not something that was practiced, so instead they brought seeds.
Johnny Appleseed was an American folk hero. He has the most memorable story of apple cultivation and because of him the apple industry flourished. He made it his life’s work to spread the taste, beauty and knowledge of the apple to people all across America. He taught the people to grow their own trees and how to tend their apple orchards. He helped to make apples a readily available food for people of the time.
Apple Trivia
The apple has a long history and is associated and grown in many cultures worldwide. Here are a few fun facts about one of our best loved fruits:
There is evidence found by archeologists that suggest apples were being eaten as far back as 6500 B.C.
There are about 2500 varieties grown in the United States, 7500 grown in the world.
China produces the most apples in the world.
The apple is the official fruit of West Virginia, New York, Rhode Island and Washington.
The largest apple ever picked weighed 3 pounds and 2 ounces.
65 apples per year are eaten by the average person.
25% of an apples volume is air, therefore it can float.
The crabapple is the only apple native to North America.
Apple Nutrition
One medium apple is the recommended serving size and it contains about 65 calories. Apples contain Vitamin A, Calcium and Iron all at about 1% of your daily recommended intake. Vitamin C can be found in a medium apple at 10% of your daily intake. One apple also provides 12% of what is recommended daily for dietary fiber.
Health Benefits of Apples
There are many facets to the health benefits of apples. For example, they contain large amounts of vitamins and minerals that strengthen the blood. The skin of an apple contains pectin. Pectin can help remove toxic substances from the system by supplying galacturonic acid. This is used to help prevent protein matter in the intestine from spoiling.
Specifically, apples can be used to help in the treatment and prevention of some illnesses. Some of these include asthma. Studies have shown children with asthma that drink apple juice daily suffered less wheezing than those with asthma that don’t drink apple juice regularly.
Researchers believe that the high levels of the flavonoids quercetin and naringin in apples may have a beneficial effect in inhibiting the formation of cancer. When rats were tested it was found that the risk of breast cancer was lessened by 17 percent when just one apple per day was eaten. Further studies showed rats fed three apples reduced risks up to 39 percent and when fed six apples per day lessened the risk by an amazing 44 percent. Another research linked to cancer was that of extract from an apple’s skin. It was found that rats fed the extract from the apple skin reduced their risk of liver cancer by 57 percent.
